Talk:Reviews
First, let me say that I enjoyed the game immensely, and replayed it to perform better. I am looking forward to playing the next chapters (until the world ends?) I mostly agree with what have been told so far. The writing is extremely interested but many players seemed to be put off by it. A pity! Making the skip option easier to see may appease them (even if I don't really understand the problem with just clicking through if one can't bear the exposition and dialogues...) More importantly, the tutorial is lacking in an example of secrets, or just throwing things, for example. During half of my first playthrough, I didn't even know I could throw corpses, not wanting to try a "grab" option when ressources (AP) are limited... Explicitely showing it in the first fight, with a sentence saying that the map is interactive would be a good thing to have in the future. Secrets add a replay value to some maps, so it's a good thing. I am all for even more interactive maps, even if the benefit of doing so combatwise is questionnable. I was half-disappointed that you couldn't shove people in the lit chimney during the fight in the tavern, for example. Throwing the piglet was something that was fun (and not very effective). I'd like to see more of that. Not all skills are created equal. You tried to balance them with a different cost in skill points, but it's ineffective IMHO: during the fight, characters are limited by their special points and default on using mostly the most useful skill in their skill palette, with little benefit to vary. Let's review the skills. Ivan. Spearplus and Speardoubleplus give a more potent attack once in a while, in exchange for Special Points. Triple fist do +50% (the same as Speardoubleplus) for a total of 30 skill points instead of 120 for Speardoubleplus (including prerequisite). OK, you get a better range with the spear, but 120 skill points is a lot to allow Ivan to do an attack at +50% every three rounds. You don't get enough "crowds" of enemies where you can hit two of the in a single attack to make it superior enough to cost 120 skill points, I think. Smoke attack costs 35, and reduce the target's accuracy by 50% for 2 rounds. Not good enoguh, since they are still trying to attack. Other skills that prevent an attack make the enemy withdraw, which is an added bonus, so this skill doesn't feel as good. Globally, I wasn't tempted to use skill points on skills that use AP for Ivan. He feels a little outshined by the others, with battlefield control skills (Limb Breaker, Mockery, Stasis Dart...) Tevoran has the uber Mockery skill. Extremely interesting since his other abilities make him a good tank, but usually you'll want him in the back to taunt foes to go through your lines without attacking. Good character overall, Ysabel Limb Breakers trumps flamebow. If the enemy is just a little too strong to be finished with a normal shot, so you need extra damage, then making him unable to attack for 2 rounds will usually suffice. The only difference is when enemies are immune to stun, but they should stay infrequent: it is annoying when you get a cool power and you can never use it to make a difference because whenever you'd like to use it, the enemy is immune. In Chapter 1, I found that the balance was great for Limb breaker, so maybe it's flamebow that should be boosted a litle. Same with Vadim's Kidney Jab, which cost less than a doublestab and is arguably more useful. Maybe making this "+X% atk" random, without the need to use special points, could be a solution? If you know Double Stab, each attack has a 25% chance of being a Double Stab? Special Points would be used only for tactical powers... Well, you'd have some players who would activate it each turn by quick-reloading before each attack, but they're only cheating themselves of the challenge... Oksana is cool but multi-heal is seldom useful: Ysabel and Casimir are mostly in the back row not being hit, and the heavy hitters are supposed to be healed each round (regular heal is 5sp, and Oksana gets 7 each turn when fully upgraded). Which leave us with Casimir... Poor Casimir. He's frail, and his main draw (healing dart, the first healing power we get) is quickly outshone by Oksana. Detox dart isn't useful because you're seldom under the influence of a status. Statis and Slow are the obvious best since poison dart doesn't kill an enemy (too weak) and as attacks are powerful, the obvious tactic is to gang up on the same foe... Letting her live with less than 30 HP to let the poison finish it isn't very effective. Drunk dart, well, I don't even know if it's a buff or a penalty... Casimir should get some improvement to put him on par with the other characters. Maybe give him Molotov? :)